Streaker plays key role

The intervention of an almost naked female cavorting on the National Hockey Stadium pitch proved a pivotal moment as Gillingham clambered out of the relegation places.

Wimbledon are already down, but they were 1-0 up and percolating a useful head of steam when the interruption caused by a topless streaker unaccountably doused their passion.

"Some of my players are too young to have seen such a large lady before and we went completely to pieces," quipped Wimbledon manager Stuart Murdoch.

It is implausible that Wimbledon's players are quite that innocent, although there was a naivety about the way they relinquished the 1-0 lead given to them by the impressive Gary Smith, a midfielder on loan from Middlesbrough.

Related Articles

Gillingham player-manager Andy Hessenthaler took it upon himself to manhandle the intruder off the pitch, and within minutes he had also fired home an equaliser.

As the balance of power shifted, Patrick Agyemang poached the winner against his former colleagues, heading in after a communication breakdown between Harry Ntimban-Zeh and young goalkeeper David Martin.

Wimbledon, still in administration after an 11th-hour objection from the Inland Revenue to the club's proposed voluntary arrangement, had only won once in 18 previous games at Milton Keynes, but they might have improved on that record had Malvin Kamara's shooting matched his shimmying.

Instead, Danny Spiller was the energetic cog behind Gillingham's comeback, and Hessenthaler said: "It was a scrappy old game but it was a massive effort on our part to dig in and come from behind. It gives us a fighting chance of staying up."